“Hopefully, Trzeciak learns from the experience.”
What he learned is already there. When an umpire calls a pitch it is not determined by his definition of a strike zone. It is determined by what he saw. An infielder knows how to field a ground ball. But they kick them. An outfielder knows how to catch a fly ball, but they drop them. Same theory. The only difference is the official is placed in trying to be perfect, an unreachable goal. Somewhere along the line the sport had to draw from humans to fill the slots.
Combined between both teams the number of pitches averages out to roughly 145–150 pitches per team per game, with pitchers typically averaging around 15 pitches per inning. In a typical Major League Baseball (MLB) game, there are approximately 25 to 35 ground balls hit into the field of play per team (totaling 50–70+ per game). And they are shared in their action by six different players. Do people dwell on the errors they make? Those are forgotten, and they can make it up with another play. But the umpires calls are remembered for years in some cases.
I did an experiment many years ago when proved that point by telling a basketball player that the players will remember the call, but have very little recollection of the game. Another player came in and I asked him if he could remember a call I made he didn’t think was right. And without prompting him, he described a play from last year to a tee with everything in it’s appearance. Then I asked him if they won the game, did he have any ball control errors, how many points he or the team had...just a series of general questions about the game. And he couldn’t remember any of them, not even if they won. So that one play was etched on his mind and only the expectation of the officials.
Is there a chance that Trzeciak was sick that day, or the previous night, and wasn’t calling up to his capacity? Did the catcher block some of his calls, or use a reach and pull tactic with pitches that were outside the zone many times to steal a strike and that’s what he saw.
Putting in the artificial calling of the game is not going to improve it. It is just going to place blame on the officials giving players a chance to save face when they get punched out. And they are already protected with the stigma of being professional players. The expectations of the fans afford them their mistakes. And at the same time make the umpires the enemy rather than their trying to hit a slider.
wy69
I play senior softball with a guy who is great pitcher. Unfortunately, every game his team looses, it's always his player's fault, ever pitch called a ball by the umpire is always a bad call, every call of safe on the base paths is always a bad call by the umpire.
Every game lost is always the umpire's fault.
He's a whining, pain in the ass. LOL!
Everyone here in Detroit, and likely around the country, remembers that call.
Had it not been for that bad call, nobody would ever remember Galarraga's throwing that no-hitter.....